Freedom
by Vonna Plum
Summary: Sasuhina Friendship Younger Sasuke and Hinata She was like a bird locked in a cage, and someone had thrown away the key. It was inevitable for Sasuke to become the key and release her from her cage. Sweet Extremely OOC HIATUS
1. Share My Freedom

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters used in this fanfiction.  
Warnings: This fanfiction is very very very clean, although it might have a little angst or darkness later. Not one swear word, not one bit of violent, no suggestiveness...But I must warn you of the OOC-ness  
Rating: K+ for later chapters. First Chapter's K  
Type: Three or Four chapters, Sasuhina because I adore this pairing when it's friendship. This is Friendship/Hurt/Comfort._

_Yes, hello, after a one month long Writer's Block, Vonna livessss!!! This is a younger fic again. I love younger fics. They're so perfect for cuteness. Hopefully this'll be cute (it's meant to be I think). Ages are...6 or 7ish, first chapter just before Itachi goes wacky and kills everyone, I haven't done my research because I'm feeling lazy, but I think it's 7...The second chapter is more like Chapter 1, the third is going to be the angsty/dark/hurt part (you know you love that), when Itachi goes on killing spree. Now...What else do I need to say? I haven't done this for god knows how long..._

_Sasuke is impossibly OOC, total opposite of who he really is. Seriously, if OOC was in the dictionary, they would use this fanfic as an example. But I have a reason! Because in the anime (I haven't read the manga for the earlier parts, just the Shippuden manga), Sasuke seemed to be so much more like Naruto when he was young, back when everyone in his clan was alive. So in this, I've tried to picture him back then, although some part, I agree, are too much like Naruto and not enough like Sasuke. Just think of the flashback where he was young, before the full on 'Zomg Itachi you killed them all!' part...yeah...If you're against OOC-ness, then I advise you NOT to continue on, because even the prologue is OOC. If you can't put up with OOC-ness, but don't like it, don't worry, He snaps and changes to what he is now later on._

_Personally, I think I've lost my touch, I think I've become a little...I dunno, I feel that I just drag on. Well, not really, but...I think, like, I have a good 'plot bunny' or idea, but I just can't write it very well. Maybe I'm going rusty? __But tell me what you think anyway, because I also think I'm just over thinking it._

_Self beta-ed twice. Enjoy. R&R_

**Freedom**

_Prologue_

Uchiha Sasuke had always been a very cheerful boy, despite being envious of his multi-talented perfect brother, and feeling unloved by his father. He was a determined young boy with all the freedom in the world; he was boundless, like a free kite gliding in the wind. His father never restricted him to anything because apparently he wasn't worth it, his mother was just the kind loving person that made her who she was, and his brother didn't even bother noticing him sometimes. The only thing that bound him down to earth was…himself. He was curious, he was playful, and he was everything a boy his age was meant to be like – free. He had self-confidence and charisma second to no other in the Uchiha clan. It was almost as if he wasn't an Uchiha at all.

Hyuuga Hinata was the polar opposite. She couldn't be anything but a Hyuuga. She was shy, quiet and no self-confidence. Her father thought of her as only a weakling with no talent at all. Her mother was too busy looking after little Hanabi. She didn't really know anyone else besides them. But despite the fact that her parents paid practically no attention to her at all, she was still trapped. The Hyuuga compound was like a prison. She had never set foot out of the compound, and she knew she probably never would. She had no one to play with, or talk to, just no one. She couldn't do anything, because she feared disgracing the name of the family. She was like a bird locked in a cage, and someone had thrown away the key, never to be found again. It was inevitability that would keep her in her cage for what would feel like forever.

And it was inevitability that Sasuke would save Hinata from her bounds.

---

**Chapter 1**  
_Share my freedom_

Sasuke had always been his father's little messenger boy, he didn't really mind though. It kind of made Sasuke feel that he did have some use to his father. But he had been playing when he was asked to take this message to the Hyuuga compound…

…Then again, he had never been in the Hyuuga compound before; he'd seen it a million times from the outside. It was as big as the Uchiha compound, maybe bigger. His was squirming with inner excitement; going to a place he had always been curious about. And his father had said to deliver it personally, so Sasuke had to go inside. For some odd reason, he couldn't wait; curiosity was taking over his mind.

Sasuke suddenly wondered if there was anyone his age in there. He had never seen any other kids come out of the compound, so he guessed there wasn't. It was probably really serious and boring inside – just like adults. Sasuke laughed to himself.

Sasuke continued his way to the compound, still imagining what it was like inside.

Sasuke wriggled from one foot to another as he stood in front of the Hyuuga compound's giant front gates. He wondered about what to do. Knock on the door? Ring the doorbell? Just walk in? He decided knocking on the door would probably be best. Nodding at his decision he knocked on the large wooden gates three times. A kind looking lady holding a little toddler came to the door. The woman was wearing a white kimono with a black design on the sleeves and at the bottom. The _obi _(1) was black as well. The toddler wore a very little navy yukata (2), probably tailored to her size, with sky blue butterflies embroidered on it. The yukata was much more casual than the woman's kimono. Sasuke wondered why anyone would dress so formally at home.

"Oh, hello, how can I help you?" She asked, her white eyes strangely warm. Sasuke grinned and was about to reply when another voice interrupted.

"You didn't have to answer the gate, Miss, that's why we're here! And you were busy with Hanabi-sama too!" A voice, probably a maid's, said from behind the woman.

"It's no problem," The woman turned to the maid, "here, take Hanabi-chan back to the gardens." She handed the strangely quiet toddler to the maid, who nodded and took the child before heading off to the gardens.

"Sorry, now what was that, dear?" The woman turned back to Sasuke with a smile, She looked at the Uchiha fan on Sasuke's shirt and suddenly felt the need to be even nicer to avoid getting into the little family feud that had been going on for a while now.

"My dad sent me over to give, uhm…Mr. Hyuuga this." Sasuke showed the woman a scroll tied with a red and white ribbon to symbolise the Uchiha Clan.

"Ok then." The woman held out her hand as if to take the scroll from Sasuke.

"No!" Sasuke yelped all of a sudden, hugged the scroll to his chest, surprising the woman, who drew her hand back. The scroll was his only ticket to get into the compound; if he handed it over he would have to leave without going in.

"I mean…uhh, my father told me to give it to Mr. Hyuuga personally." Sasuke was a little embarrassed at his sudden unnecessary outburst. The woman contemplated letting in an Uchiha, but smiled when she decided it would be okay, seeing as he was so young. Why a father would send such a young boy to send messages was beyond her knowledge.

"Ok then, come in." Sasuke grinned again and nearly ran into the compound.

It looked bigger than the Uchiha compound. The gardens surrounded white buildings in the centre, smaller buildings were scattered in the gardens. The house was outlined with an old Japanese style veranda and everyone was also dressed in kimonos and yukatas. It was like stepping back in time. The gardens held water features and stepping-stones led the way to the veranda.

"This way then." The woman smiled. Sasuke nodded and followed her as she walked along the steeping-stones, onto the veranda and into the building

"So what's your name?" The woman asked, with more curiosity than suspicion in her voice.

"Sasuke." Sasuke replied with a smile. The woman smiled back, but didn't share her own name.

"'Mr. Hyuuga' is in here – his study. I'll wait outside, mm kay?" Sasuke nodded.

"Hyuuga-sama, delivery from the Uchihas." The woman said from behind the door.

"Come in." A cold stern voice replied from within the room. The woman nodded to Sasuke and he opened the door and stepped in.

The room was walled with bookshelves. There was no window, or if there was, they had covered it with a bookshelf. A huge desk sat in the centre of the room, and at that desk sat Hiashi Hyuuga, who looked at Sasuke coldly.

"What are you doing here?" Hiashi asked, not expecting an Uchiha to step into his study.

"My father wanted me to give this to you." Sasuke said as seriously as possible. This man looked like an 'all work, no play' kind of person, what a boring way to live life.

"But what are you _doing _here?" Hiashi asked again. The Uchiha clan never sent messages personally, usually with messenger hawks or something. The man was unbelievably unnerving.

"My father told me to give this to you. I don't know why, I just do it." Sasuke replied seriously, his voice hardly faltering at all.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Give it to me." Hiashi ordered as if Sasuke was a Hyuuga. Sasuke nodded and stepped forward to the desk and gave it to Hiashi, who opened the scroll and read it with an expressionless face.

"Stay here until I've got a reply done." Hiashi stated in a dismissive way. Sasuke caught on, nodded and left.

"What did he say?" The woman asked when Sasuke stepped out of the room. Sasuke smiled, he didn't think she would really stay here waiting around for him.

"Mr. Hyuuga told me to stay here until he's finished a reply." Sasuke replied. She chuckled to herself.

"That's just like him, ordering someone he doesn't even know around…" She said to herself.

"Uhh, are there any kids here to play with?" Sasuke asked.

"Hmm…you're not against girls are you?"

"No, why?"

"Most boys I meet this girls have 'cooties' or something…" Sasuke gasped at her words.

"Girls have _cooties_?!" Sasuke covered his mouth with both hands in horror.

"Uhh…No…no, girls are just like you really…just…girl-ier." Sasuke sighed in relief, so girls _didn't _have cooties…phew. [_A/N: That was so Naruto, and so not Sasuke_

'_What are cooties anyway?_' The woman wondered to herself.

"So is there anyone to play with?" Sasuke asked again, wondering if the woman had forgotten his question.

"I think there is someone, I'm sure she'll be delighted to play with you." The woman replied. Sasuke grinned and wondered about who it was.

---

By 'delighted to play with you', he didn't think the woman meant, 'totally scared and shy of other people'. But Sasuke was feeling particularly social today, so he didn't let this stop him, being the determined little boy he knew he was. Still, he frowned slightly at a little girl hiding behind a tree with short black hair and lavender eyes. But he quickly replaced it with a smile.

"Hi!" He called out to her as the woman left him with the girl behind the tree, "I'm Sasuke! What's your name?"

There was a very quiet murmur from behind the tree. Sasuke stepped closer to hear the girl a little better, but only caused the girl to hide behind the tree even more.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"Hinata…" The girl said again, her voice dying at the end, making the 'ta' inaudible.

"Hina?" Sasuke repeated just to be sure. A deep red blush spread across the girl's face, no one had ever called her anything but 'Hinata'.

"I-It's Hinata…" Hinata said a little louder. Sasuke frowned. He'd never met anyone so shy before. It made her hard to become friends with.

"Can I call you Hina-chan anyway?" Sasuke asked, knowing that nicknames were part of being friends. Hinata blushed even deeper.

"Uhh…o-okay…"

"Can you stop hiding from me please? I'm not going to bite you." Sasuke said with a smile, his voice didn't show any signs of an order. Hinata felt as though it was the first time she had ever had a choice, even if it was just 'come out from behind the tree or not'. Hinata nodded slowly and came out of her hiding place, and sitting on one of the two swings hanging from the tree. The swing gave her a weird feeling of reassurance. Sasuke sat on the other swing next to Hinata, which just made her blush even more. She'd never swung with someone else because there was no one else in the first place. Hinata sat in the swing idly while Sasuke swung as high as he could, looking at the girl every time he swung by.

She was surprisingly short for her age. She was in a plain blue yukata with a darker blue obi. Her bangs were longer than the rest of her hair and her skin was very pale. She was fragile and delicate.

"So…what do you like to play?" Sasuke asked, as he swung even higher.

"…I d-don't know…"

"Oh…Where do you like to play?" Sasuke asked.

"H-here…" Hinata replied.

'_How boring…_' Sasuke thought.

"What about a favourite park? Or the waterfall?" Sasuke suggested. The waterfall was his absolute most favourite place to play. The water was cooling and it was fun the splash in. Once, he had pushed his Aniki (3) into the water when he wasn't looking, and it was hilariously funny to see him come out of the water again sopping wet. His Aniki didn't end up getting angry at him though, he had just pushed Sasuke in as well. That was probably the fondest memory he had of his brother, seeing as his brother never just let go and relax that often.

"T-there's a w-waterfall out th-there?" Sasuke was surprised. How could any kid not know about the waterfall?

"To not know about the waterfall is like…never stepping out of your house!" Sasuke joked with a smile.

"Ano…That's b-because…I…I've n-never b-been outs-side these w-walls…" Hinata stuttered.

"What?! You're joking right?"

"N-no…I'm n-not joking…"

"So this is like a giant cage?"

"Y-yes…I g-guess it is…" Hinata looked down sadly.

"That's no fun…Want me to show you something that'll make swinging even more fun?" Sasuke offered, deciding that he was high enough to show her his all time favourite thing to do on swings (4).

"O-Okay."

'_Good, Hina-chan needs the fun in her life._' Sasuke thought to himself.

"Could you get off your swing, just in case?" Hinata hopped off her swing slowly and stepped back from it.

"Okay, check this out!" Sasuke grinned.

When he swung back as high as he could, he began to twist to the left. Hinata gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. His swing back down was twisted so he faced the other way, still he continued to twist until the swing was twisted up about four times. He stopped twisting around and let the swing untwist itself, so it spun rapidly while swinging. Sasuke whooped at the speed and thrill of twisting and swinging at the same time so loudly it bothered people in the vicinity, but no one came rushing to stop him for some reason, probably because he wasn't a Hyuuga.

Sasuke's swing slowly stopped twisting and slowed to a stop. Sasuke hopped off instantly after that and stepped forward unsteadily a couple times before falling from the dizziness and giggling.

"Sa-Sasuke-kun, th-that was dangerous!" Hinata almost reprimanded, sitting down next to Sasuke's lying figure and looking down at him with a worried look.

"But it looked fun, didn't it? Didn't it?" Sasuke grinned up at her, the sky still spinning a little.

"I-it looked dan-dangerous." Hinata replied.

"But dangerous can be fun, take a risk! Try it! Try it!" Sasuke urged. Hinata shook her head nervously, a little scared about refusing Sasuke's offer. Her father would have gotten angry at her for refusing any offer he made for her. Not that her father ever made any offers to her.

"Suit yourself," Sasuke sat up and smiled before standing up again, "I'm doing it again!"

"N-no, y-you shouldn't! I-it's dangerous…" Hinata said again.

"I haven't done it for ages," Sasuke said, ignoring her words as he walked back to the swing, "I broke the swing at the park doing the same thing, so there's been no other place to do it." Hinata gasped.

"Y-you broke it d-doing th-that?" Hinata stood up as well, "Y-you really sh-shouldn't do it a-again!" Sasuke was happy at the fact that she was talking a lot more than before.

"I won't do it again if you try it." Sasuke said, sitting back onto the swing. Hinata contemplated trying it, but decided not to.

"The m-maids will try t-to s-stop me…" Hinata excused.

"But they didn't stop me."

"N-no offe-nce, but I'm k-kinda m-more important h-here…" Hinata smiled slightly. Sasuke just laughed.

"True, true. But you're not important enough to stop me!" Sasuke started swinging up high again with an intent to start twisting again.

When he finished swinging, Hinata persuaded him to stop. Sasuke lay back down on the grass, Hinata sat next to him again. Sasuke watched the clouds through the branches of the tree.

"Ano…" Sasuke turned his head to Hinata at her voice.

"What's it l-like outside?" Hinata asked.

"Uhh…it's…big, lots of different people, more things to do…" Sasuke summed up off the top of his head.

"O-oh…I w-wish I could—" Hinata was cut off by another voice.

"Sasuke-kun! 'Mr. Hyuuga' wants you to go back home with the reply!" It was the woman that had answered the door.

"Okay. One moment!" Sasuke called back before turning to Hinata and expecting her to keep talking.

"Uhh…n-never mind…"

"No, no, keep going!" Sasuke urged, Hinata looked behind him and saw the head maid waiting for Sasuke to come. Hinata decided she might as well say it so the maid could stop waiting.

"Uh…I wish I could…c-could go outside…" Hinata finished with a blush. Sasuke grinned and got up to get the reply from the woman. He suddenly had a brainwave and turned back to Hinata.

"Hey Hinata!"

"Y-yes…?"

"I'll share my freedom with you!"

-x-

(1) The thick belt around the waist on a kimono, it's tied like a big bow at the back.

(2) A more casual summer garment. It's like a kimono. Men and women can wear Yukatas.

(3) Older Brother.

(4) And _my _all time favourite thing to do on swings. hehehe

_Now do you see how crazy OOC this is? Do you think I made Hinata talk too much? I considered making it Naruhina instead of Sasuhina, but it wouldn't work. I'd have to think up a whole different way to get Hinata out of her cage to see Naruto, or get Naruto into the cage. Where as it's not too hard to get Sasuke into the compound because I've given him a little more reason. If you're wondering what the message was about the truth is...I don't know! Maybe the Uchihas are planning war against the Hyuugas or something...The war over who's the coolest, richest, highest classed clan..._

_What a waste of time. We all know the Uchihas were most important, they had a police force or something didn't they?_

_Anyway, Review please, Hope you enjoyed!_

_V. Plum._

_Written: 17__th__ November 2007_

_Words: 2,717_

_**-TBC-**_


	2. Just A Shooting Star Doing His Job

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters used in this fanfiction.  
__  
Ahaha...ha...ha...Hi._

_I'm sorry, I know I should have stopped putting this story off, I know a few of you are waiting (that's why you alerted this story, right?) Aww, I feel so bad. Thank you, thank you for the comments and the favourites, alerts, I know I'm not being fair, and I'm making myself feel really bad now. I so bloody lazy, RAWRRRR! I hate me laziness!!!!_

_Ah well, no one's perfect._

_NO MORE HIATUS-ING!!!_

_Beta'd twice, Sorry, Enjoy._

**Freedom**

Chapter 2

"Hello again, Sasuke-kun. She's at the swings again."

True to his own words, Sasuke went to the Hyuuga compound as much as possible, usually after lunch, like today, to share his freedom with Hinata. He insisted on going as much as possible while squashing in training with his brother and running other errands for his father. His father had increased the amount of errands to do as much as possible in hope to get Sasuke away from the other rivalling family. But Sasuke had increased the speed of his jobs in order to get to the Hyuuga compound as early as possible, it was a lost cause to make Sasuke work any more, and his mother disapproved of having such a young boy working so hard. In the end, Sasuke's father gave up in the end for the sake of his wife anyway, as much as he would have liked to stop Sasuke going to the Hyuugas.

Sasuke smiled and stepped into the Hyuuga compound two weeks after he had first met Hinata. Sasuke rushed towards the swings, especially excited because he had finally figured out a way to make her dream come true…

(Flashback – Two days after the first meeting)

_The two children sat at the swings idly, Sasuke too tired to swing after twisting about six times in a row, Hinata sitting a few feet away from the tree on the grass._

_"Are y-you sure you w-want t-to share y-your f-freedom?" Hinata said as the two of them talked about freedom as if it were an object._

"_Yeah sure, I've got tons of it!" Sasuke assured._

"_O-ok…" Hinata said quietly, blushing and looking down at the ground, unconsciously picking at the long blades of grass._

"_Hey you know your wish?" Sasuke grinned._

"_Yes…"_

"_I'm gonna make your wish come true!" Sasuke continued to grin. Hinata looked up to face him and blushed even darker._

"_R-r-really?" Hinata stuttered, shocked at the fact that Sasuke would do something like that for her._

"_Yeah! Yeah! I'll be your shooting star!" Sasuke swung his hand up in a giant arc above his head to symbolise a shooting star._

"_How…?"_

_Sasuke lifted a finger and held it up as if to explain something. He opened his mouth to start talking. But he hadn't thought of a plan. His finger sagged and shut his mouth again._

"…_Oh…" Hinata said in a disappointed tone. She had been expecting a brilliant plan._

"_It's a secret, I'll tell you when it's ready!" Sasuke covered quickly._

(End Flashback)

"Sas-suke-kun!" Hinata smiled weakly as Sasuke approached the swings. Hinata was swinging slightly, Sasuke having told her to 'stop using the swing as a chair'.

"Hey Hina-chan!" A blush dusted Hinata's cheeks. Sasuke ran up until he was right in front of Hinata. He jumped a few times on the spot.

"W-what is it…?" Hinata asked.

"I have a plan! I mean…I finished planning the plan!" Sasuke grinned.

"R-really? W-what is it?"

"We're gonna beg your dad to go outside!" Sasuke smiled at his brilliant intelligence.

"B-beg?" Hinata had never begged for everything because she was taught to love and be glad of what she already had, she'd never even considered begging for more.

"Yeah yeah yeah! Let's go!!" Sasuke grabbed Hinata's wrist and pulled her off the swing.

"W-wait!"

Sasuke cocked his head to the side as if to tell her to go on.

"H-how…I m-mean…what d-do we s-say? W-won't f-father be mad?"

"You say 'Please please please let us outside! Sasuke is going to take me to the waterfall, and maybe somewhere else! I've never been out; do you want me to be anti-soshuail? Please let us go out!'" Sasuke said in a higher voice.

"'anti-soshuail'?"

"Yeah, like don't know how to talk to other people and stuff like that. You'll be a loner! With cooties!" Sasuke explained [A/N: anti-soshuail is antisocial.

"'cooties'?" Hinata inquired again.

"Yes! Cooties! Germs! Evilness!" Sasuke explained, putting on a creepy voice. Hinata gasped.

"I d-don't w-want c-cooties…"

"Then let's go quick! The cooties are chasing you!" Sasuke pointed behind her with a gasp and pulling her to her father's study.

"W-what a-are we going t-to do?"

"Beg! And if that doesn't work…commence Kawaii-no-Jutsu!!!" Sasuke laughed evilly and didn't stop pulling.

"W-what if h-he says n-no…?" Hinata gasped as Sasuke kept pulling her to the study.

"Don't worry! He'll definitely say yes!"

---

"Absolutely not."

Sasuke's jaw dropped. It wasn't working! Sasuke nudged Hinata in the ribs; she had stayed silent for the entire time.

"Uhh…uhh…P-pl-please l-l-let u-us o-outs-side…" Hinata mumbled, her stuttering getting the best of her.

"We'll take a maid with us!" Sasuke said desperately, although he would rather not have an adult follow them around, he'd have to lose the maid somehow...

"I said 'no', now go away, the both of you." Hiashi said firmly.

"What's the worst that could happen, anyway?"

"_I said_ '_no_'." Hiashi said again. Sasuke nudged Hinata and leaned in, whispering 'Please father, I'm lonely and bored' into her ear.

"Ple-please f-f-father! I'm l-lone-ly a-and b-bored!"

"Commence cuteness!!" Sasuke bursted out, before clasping his hands together and doing the best puppy-eyes he could muster up. Hiashi's eye twitched. Hinata looked at Sasuke, then back to her father, then back to Sasuke. Clasping her hands together as well, Hinata copied Sasuke.

'_My god, this is why I didn't want some crazy Uchiha with my daughter…_' Hiashi sighed as he rubbed his temples.

"Fine, fine, go! Take a maid, now get out of my sight!" Hiashi waved a hand dismissively.

"Yatta!!" Sasuke cheered before dragging Hinata out of the study with him.

---

Hinata and Sasuke walked out of the gates, Hinata staring at the ground, Sasuke bouncing up and down in front of her, walking backwards.

"Come on, Hinata, look up! I made your wish come true!!" Sasuke grinned. Sasuke looked behind Hinata and saw a maid behind them, staring, as if waiting for them to explode or something.

Hinata looked up and saw the shops, the dirt ground, a bigger sky… her heart beat rapidly. She was finally out. And it was all because of Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun…thank you…" Hinata thanked with a smile and a blush.

"No prob! Now, lets lose the maid!" Sasuke grabbed her wrist and ran as fast as he could to the waterfall, dragging Hinata and almost making her trip quite a few times. The maid ran after them, but Sasuke detoured through well-known alleyways, and weaved through stalls on the sides of the roads, dragging Hinata all the way. He quickly lost the maid and started heading to the waterfall.

When they got to the waterfall, Sasuke pulled Hinata to the edge of the pool, smiling as he watched water flow endlessly from the top of the cliff, crashing into the pool loudly, water spraying up.

"What d'you think? Pretty neat, eh?" Sasuke shouted over the water's crashing, not letting go of Hinata's wrist.

"Mm." Hinata agreed softly, not sure if Sasuke caught her voice or not. It was beautiful. The forest surrounding it was green, the branches swaying with the wind. The rocks under the clear water were eroded smooth and, Hinata guessed, probably pretty easy to slip on.

"My aniki, Itachi, he can stand on water. He said it was really easy, but when I asked him to teach me, he just laughed," Sasuke's eyes softened at the thought, his brother hadn't laughed for a long time now, "And he said to concentrate at school, because I need to know the basics and stuff…"

"School…"

"Konoha Academy. Come to think of it, I haven't seen you there before?"

"I'm h-home schooled."

"That's not right. You'll become really anti-soshuail, you should come to the academy. Convince your dad!"

"Otou-sama w-wouldn't approve…"

"Just beg again, get your mum on your side, that gives you even more power!"

"R-really?"

"Yeah! Mums always have magical power over dads! All they have to do is frown and say a few things… like get your mum to say 'Hinata needs a solid education' or something…you know when adults aren't talking about the news and politics and boring stuff, and they get into talking about their kids, the first thing is always about the education, it's so boring…" Sasuke rambled on; his mum always had that effect on his dad.

"…" Hinata wasn't really listening, she was finding his rambling a little boring, not that she would ever say that, it was rude, and rudeness was shunned upon in the Hyuuga Clan. When it wasn't about power, it was about image.

"…So anyway," Sasuke came to the close of his rambling, "Are you going to go ask your mum or what?"

"I though I h-had to ask my father…?"

"No! Weren't you listening, you ask your mum so you get more power—"

"Okay." Hinata cut him off, before he started rambling again. Then, noticing how rude it was to cut someone off in mid sentence, she covered her mouth and quickly apologised. Sasuke just grinned, his face a little confused as to why Hinata was apologising.

"Hey, whatever, Make sure you ask your mum first though. And mention anti-soshuail-ism. Anyway, I wanna show you something." Sasuke pulled Hinata to a small gap between the flowing water rushing downwards and the cliff. They both squeezed in through the said gap, Hinata winced and closed her eyes, waiting to become completely soaked.

When she opened her eyes, though, it was surprisingly drier than she expected. It was damp, cold and louder by ten fold. It was dark towards the back of the little cave, the front was a lot brighter because the sun shone through the wall of water.

"Welcome to the place I come to cry." Sasuke said, Hinata looked at him, expecting a joking grin, but his face was staring ahead, serious.

When he finally looked at Hinata, he saw her worry and grinned, "I'm joking, I'm joking! Gosh, aren't you the regular worry-boots!" Sasuke sat down a few metres from the wall of water, still in the lighter part of the cave. Hinata joined him.

"When my Aniki first showed me this place, I thought it was like being on the other side of a giant tap." Sasuke explained, smiling wistfully again, wishing his brother wasn't so distant now.

"Ano…You really love your brother, don't you?"

"Love…?! Eew, love it all icky and sappy! I look up to him! But he's my rival too, you know, I'm gonna surpass him one day. Though I like it better when we're haven't breaks, and we're just relaxing and mucking around…"

Hinata smiled. _'In other words, yeah, you love him.'_

"My aniki…" Sasuke's voice softened, as did his face, Hinata had to concentrate to hear him over the water, "He's the pride of the Uchiha Clan…he could use Sharingan when he was eight. Everyone loves him, and wants him to succeed in every way, especially my dad…"

"My dad… He never acts like he cares about me, because I'm second to Itachi. And I've shown no signs of awakening the Sharingan yet, no matter how hard I train." Hinata had never seen Sasuke look so down. Compared to how he usually was anyway.

"Anyway, I must be boring you." Hinata shook her head. Sasuke smiled genuinely. Hinata blushed lightly.

"Then let me complain about one more thing." Hinata nodded this time.

"My aniki… isn't acting like he should at the moment. A few of the other clan members think that he killed Shisui… And I don't wanna believe it, I dunno what to believe. Shisui is like Itachi's big brother. But… M-maybe, it's the stress and pressure that's got him acting so strange…" Sasuke paused, "He's not acting like my aniki…"

In a situation like this, Hinata didn't know what to do. A silence fell over them. Sasuke wallowed a little in his confusion and sadness before resurfacing.

"Anyway! There's somewhere else I want to show you, are you game?" Sasuke grinned. Hinata pursed her lips slightly; the way Sasuke swung from one mood to another was a little overwhelming. But she just nodded.

"It's a little cold here anyway, lets go!" Sasuke inspected the goosbumps on his arms before crawling back out of the gap, with Hinata following, and led the way to the next place in his mind.

--- 

Hinata looked out over another huge lake of water. The amount of water she'd seen today was so much more than the usual little pond in the compound. Over the water was a long pier.

Sasuke walked to the edge of the pier, gesturing for Hinata to follow, and sat down with his legs swinging over the edge. Hinata shyly came over and sat down next to him. The sky was still an azure blue, but the sun was probably half way to sunset.

"Isn't it nice out here?" Sasuke grinned. Hinata nodded.

"Next time, I'll take you to my house. And you can meet my aniki!" He sounded excited.

"Next t-time?" Hinata couldn't dream of begging her father for more, he seemed incredibly angry before, and that was just the first time.

"Yeah! When he finds out that your first time out was good, then he can let you out more!" Sasuke explained. Hinata didn't agree, but she nodded anyway.

"Why aren't you happy? Aren't you out of your house now?" Sasuke asked.

"I…I am ha-happy…" Hinata assured. The truth was, she still felt a little restricted. She didn't feel free like Sasuke, she couldn't just unwind and relax because she feared the maid would come and get angry at her, and tell her father about it. Hinata gasped.

"The maid…!"

"Don't worry about her, she probably gave up and started shopping or something, you girls like stuff like that, right?" Sasuke screwed up his face at the thought of shopping, "Just relax! A kid like you shouldn't be so worried all the time, I'm sure she's fine." Sasuke laughed.

---

"AIIII!!! HINATA-SAMA!!! WHERE DID YOU GOOO?!?" The maid screamed, pulling her hair out as she walked down another street of stalls, turning heads, sure that Hiashi was going to slaughter her if she didn't find his daughter.

---

Hinata nodded at Sasuke words, of course she was fine, she was an adult after all, and the two fell into silence. After a few minutes, Sasuke jumped up and broke the silence.

"Hey! Wanna see something really cool?"

"…Ok…"

"Watch! Watch!_ Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu _(1)" A ball of fire came out of Sasuke's mouth and flew over the water. It stayed for a few seconds before vanishing. Hinata had jumped behind Sasuke in fear of getting burnt by the fire. Sasuke turned around to Hinata and grinned.

"It's not quite big enough still…" Sasuke scratched the back of his neck.

"Didn't you b-burn your l-lips?" Hinata asked, getting worried again.

"No, I use to all the time though!" Sasuke laughed, Hinata didn't think that was a laughing matter at all.

"Ne, can you do any jutsu?" Sasuke asked. Hinata shook her head.

"All I've b-been learning are pressure a-and chakra p-points." Hinata replied.

"That's so boring! If you were in my clan, you would be taught how to do this!" Sasuke pointed out to the water, referring to his fireball. Hinata didn't know if she really wanted to learn something that looked so…destructive.

"But I was t-told that I w-would be taught to hit those points with my o-own chakra a-and disable o-opponents like that." Hinata explained.

"Like poking…?" Hinata thought a little, comparing poking to what she was learning, before nodding.

"That's stupid. Would you go up and poke your enemy?" It was a rhetorical question, but Hinata looked like she was seriously thinking about it. After a while, she nodded. Sasuke's eye twitched.

"It's what I w-was taught to d-do…"

"I see…" Sasuke frowned, "it still sounds boring. No real combat…"

" Isn't th-that a good thing?"

Sasuke blinked.

"No way! Combat is essential! What if someone came up and tried to hit you?!"

"…Run away…?"

"No! You give 'im a fist in the face! And a kick in the shin! You gotta defend yourself!"

"...p-punch…?" Hinata frowned. She had never considered punching anyone ever.

"Let's practice then! Punch me!" Hinata was a little shocked. After all, the way the topic of conversation swung so wildly with Sasuke was definately something to be shocked about, and his request was a little strange too...

"...I don't want to…"

"Just do it!" Sasuke persisted. Hinata nodded and closed her eyes, then she made a fist with her right hand, and pushed it forward to hit Sasuke in the shoulder. It was weak, probably not much harder than a push.

"Make your thumb outside the rest of your fingers." Sasuke reached over and took her fisted hand, pulling the thumb out from her fingers and replacing it over the top of them. Hinata blushed the entire time. Sasuke smiled, oblivious.

"If you don't do that, your thumb bone will move." Sasuke explained, it made Hinata scared of punching him again, she didn't want her thumb bones to go anywhere...

"Do it again, harder!" Hinata nodded and tried again. Just at the split second where Hinata punched Sasuke in the shoulder, the maid suddenly appeared out of nowhere [A/N: You were expecting that, weren't you?. Sasuke and Hinata turned their heads towards her, feeling her presence.

Sasuke blinked.

Hinata's eyes widened.

The maid's jaw dropped.

Hinata pulled her fist away from Sasuke's shoulder and hid it between her legs, blushing.

The maid pointed at them, finger shaking, totally shocked.

Sasuke blinked, again, before realisation hit him. He scratched the back of his neck and laughed slowly, grinning. He looked like he'd been caught stealing illegal fireworks.

"ahaha…ha…ha...Hi."

---

(1) I think this is the one he practices over the water in the flashbacks and stuff.

_Eep, I suddenly thought, maybe the pier is in the Uchiha Compound. Oh Shlap (don't wanna up rating because of A/Ns)! I'm sure it is now!!!_

_Ahahaha, this is a different pier, right? Yes. Yes it is. It is. It is. Man, I even had to convince myself... lets just say it is._

_Review, tell me how you liked it, or how you didn't like it, tell me about how you forgot this story EXISTED until today._

_-2-fingered salut- Cya, until next time. _

V. Plum.

_Written: Over the period of time between Mid-November '07 to Late-January '08. _

_Words: 2961 words._


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